What Is Left Behind
by luluhrh
Summary: "You. . . You're joking, Lieutenant. . . right?" Something awful has happened, and it has changed something. Perhaps not forever, but for a long, long time. Rated T for just plain creepiness. . . I don't think I curse once, so this is just in case! Middle of Brotherhood, slight AU. Love ya! lulu


**I just decided to do this because I could, and because I felt like doing Crazy!Ed.**

*****WARNING!*** Angstyness abounds. Don't like angst, don't read. (Also doesn't make much sense, but the angst was what I really needed to warn you about.)**

**DISCLAIMED.**

**That takes care of that.**

When Roy heard what had happened, he ran to the hospital. It couldn't be true, but on the off chance that it was, he had to be there to comfort the boy. If it was true, the boy would be lost, and Roy couldn't let him be lost. Him being lost. . . Roy remembered how that looked, and he never wanted to see it again.

Dead eyes.

No, he couldn't see it in that face.

He smashed the doors open the way Fullmetal used to and called, "I'm here, where are they?"

Riza looked up sadly. "It's only him. You're too late, sir."

The color drained from Roy's face. "You. . . You're joking, Lieutenant. . . right? Well, it's not. . . it's. . . not funny. . ." He sat heavily in the chair beside her, shaking his head. "Please tell me it's not true, Riza."

She just shook her head.

Roy hung his own. "So he's really gone."

She nodded again, softly. "Yes, sir," she whispered, voice catching. A tear slid down her cheek.

Roy looked at her in shock. "Lieutenant?"

Riza shook her head. "It's nothing, sir," she insisted, wiping away the water. "I'm fine. It's just. . ." A soft chuckle left her. "It always seems to rain on the worst days, doesn't it?"

Roy smiled slightly, remembering that day. "Yeah. Rain comes at the worst of times." Then he frowned. "How's he taking it?"

Riza sighed sadly. "He isn't taking it well at all, sir. He's. . ." she trailed off, unable to explain. "It's better if you just see for yourself," she finished, pointing towards the door.

Roy nodding, standing once more and, hesitantly, making his way over to it. He paused for a moment, staring at it. Unremarkable, just another door in the hall, but behind was someone who was changed forever. That made it seem so much more horrible, like the Gate that Fullmetal had seen that allowed him to just clap his hands to transmute. On the other side was powerful, horrible knowledge, and seeing it would bring so much pain. Roy didn't know if he wanted to see it. Besides, this knowledge would only bring him sorrow. There were no benefits, no special power to be gained. Just grief and sadness.

With a sigh, he pushed it open and stepped inside. He let it fall closed behind him.

It took him a moment to find the boy. He wasn't in the bed. He wasn't in a chair. Roy finally spotted him sitting on the window sill, staring out into the rest of the world. His golden hair and eyes glistened, but they lacked their usual luster. It was hard to see from where Roy stood, but his aureate orbs looked empty of their fire.

"Fullmetal?" Roy asked tentatively.

No response, not even a twitch.

"Elric?"

The boy's antenna twitched.

"Edward."

He looked up, and Roy held in a gasp.

His eyes were more than empty of fire; they were flat, like yellow marble. There was no room for fire in eyes as closed off as those. The whites of his eyes had red veins popping out everywhere. His skin was far too pale to be healthy, and his mouth hung open slightly. His hair was neatly done, though, and looked out of place with the rest of his appearance.

"Ed?" Roy asked nervously.

"No," Edward replied listlessly.

This startled Roy. "What?"

"No," Edward repeated. "That's not my name."

Roy floundered around for an answer. "Wh-what do you mean? If you aren't Ed, then who are you?"

Edward looked Roy straight in the eye, and Roy was once again shocked by how shallow and lifeless they were.

"I am the world. I am the universe. I am god. I am truth. I am all. I am one. And I am also," he said, voice turning into a whisper as he pointed at Roy, "you." His hand dropped as he continued. "Or, no, I am not you. I have no right to be anyone from this world. I broke a promise and let him go." His mouth formed a scowl. "It was dragging him away. I grabbed his hand, and I said I wouldn't let go. I let go, and now he's gone because of it." He drew his legs towards himself. "I am my Gate. I am knowledge. I am not a promise. I am my Gate and what is beyond it. He is lost. I cannot reach him. He is lost, lost, lost, lost, lost. . ." Out of nowhere, a sharp laugh burst forth from Ed's mouth. "He is lost in me, and I cannot bring him back!" he crowed, wiping away tears of mirth. "It's dark in there. You can't see anything but knowledge, flashing past you, bright and twisting, twining together to show you the Truth. He is somehwere in there, and I can't find him. How rich!" Another laugh tore forth, but it was choked. "He's there, I saw it take him away, you'll never find him, he's gone and there's nothing anyone can do for me now." He sighed, and the tears fell freely. "You all know that Edward's just as lost, just as gone, as he is. I suppose that means they're together now. . ."

Roy rushed forward. "Stop talking, Fullmetal!" he shouted, gripping the madly babbling boy by the shoulders. "Snap out of it! Alphonse wouldn't-"

And he reeled back, growling in pain as he gripped his arm that had just been attacked.

"Don't say it," Edward hissed. "Don't say he wouldn't want it. Don't you see?" He was yelling and laughing now. "This isn't Edward! Edward is gone! He was dragged into the Gate with Alphonse! All you will find of Alphonse is an empty suit of armor, now. The blood seal is gone! He's in the Gate! And Edward is too! I am the armor he left behind!" He pulled at his hair. "No soul within me now, it's gone. I am the leather bag left behind."

"You're just angry," Roy tried, but Edward would not be calmed.

"Angry? I am not angry and everyone knows it. I'm mad. Beyond mad. I'm insane. Edward is gone. I am his armor. I am the body. I am what is left behind."

Roy stared at the self-proclaimed insane boy in horror. "You are Edward."

Edward glared at him. Then the glare became a Cheshire grin, the likes of which had never before been seen on the boys face.

"No, Roy Mustang," he said, sounding almost childish, his voice somehow echoing with a thousand others. "I'm not." He held up an arm; skinny and pale, flesh and bone, with long, ragged fingernails.

For a moment, Roy stared at the boy in confusion. His arm? Why would he hold up his-

_His right arm._

He had his limbs, and Roy hadn't even noticed.

But. . . where was the scar that should have been left from the automail?

Roy looked once more into flat, empty eyes and found that the strange smirk had not left the face, leaving it unfamiliar and vicious. Not Fullmetal. Not Fullmetal at all.

* * *

><p>Roy ran out of the room.<p>

What was in there. . . Whatever it was wasn't Edward Elric.

It couldn't be. . .

* * *

><p>From his new place in the realm of the Gate, Edward Elric sighed, seated across from his younger brother, facing the Gate, in the seat of the one true being.<p>

"What's the matter, Brother?"

"Nothing, Al. It's just. . ."

"Just. . . what?"

"Just Truth, Al." The golden alchemist watched as Roy Mustang ran away from what was left of his subordinate. Edward saw him run away from Edward's body that had been taken over, for now. Equivalent Exchange. "Truth is busy screwing everyone over, as usual."

**. . . Come on, we all knew that this was leading to my catchphrase. Well, at least I did. Hey, One is All, All is One. I am the One, and I knew it, and I am also the All, so the All knew it, too. Alchemy! (Heh, I just used the first principle of alchemy to justify me saying that we all knew I would use my favorite line at the end of this. LOLz! I'd do anything for the LOLz, people.)**

**YAY! RFF BECAUSE YOU LOVE ME!**

**. . . Please?**

**The word of the day is PEREMPTORY! This is a word of multiple definitions, but I'm too lazy to even write one of them, so I hope you know it! Otherwise use a dictionary or the Internet. I suggest the Internet (I heart the Interwebs), but dictionaries are cool, too, if you wanna go old-school! (LOL jk dictionaries aren't really that old-school. . . but they will be someday. . . isn't that weird to think about?)**

**I am very random today. Like, queen of randomness, right here.**

***shrug* FOR THE LOLZ!**

**Love ya! lulu**


End file.
